How TRUE is “largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command”? You’d be surprised… or, maybe not.

Remember how ANGRY some folks got when Michael Weisskopf (b.1946) of the Washington Post wrote on February 1, 1993 (link to original article with the WaPo’s editorial addendum) that the simple-minded evangelical groupies of Jerry Falwell (who himself died in 2007), Pat Robertson (b.1930), et al, that:
“The gospel lobby evolved with the explosion of satellite and cable television, hitting its national political peak in the presidential election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.

“Unlike other powerful interests, it does not lavish campaign funds on candidates for Congress nor does it entertain them. The strength of fundamentalist leaders lies in their flocks. Corporations pay public relations firms millions of dollars to contrive the kind of grass-roots response that Falwell or Pat Robertson can galvanize in a televised sermon. Their followers are largely poor, uneducated and easy to command.

“”The thing that makes them powerful is they’re mobilizable,” said Seymour Martin Lipset (d.2006), professor of public policy at George Mason University. “You can activate them to vote, and that’s particularly important in congressional primaries where the turnout is usually low.”

“Some studies put the number of evangelical Americans as high as 40 million, with the vast majority considered politically conservative.”

[ed. note: The excerpt, which has frequently been distilled to “largely poor, uneducated and easy to command,” is provided here in full proper context with leading and following sentences, not merely excerpted, in order to thoroughly show proper context.]

It’s true.

Folks don’t get mad because of falsehoods.

They get mad because of truth.

It’s true.

According to the United States Census Bureau (USCB), in 2015 (22 years AFTER that was written), 32.5% of the American public aged 25, or older, have a Bachelor’s Degree (Table 1.), which is CLEARLY a minority. Thus, we see automatically the “largely” part of “uneducated.”

The USCB has also performed research on income, which is similarly delineated and categorized by education. For the year 2011 (18 years AFTER the remarks were made), and those aged 25+ with at least a Bachelor’s Degree, the average income was

Eat me… Drink me… It’ll cure what ails you! (But by law, I can’t guarantee that.)

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland?

Perhaps, to some extent.

And sure… the title’s whacky, but so’s the idea behind the post – and I think there’s an interesting modern parallel.

To find out why, read on.

Ever watch doctor shows on teevee?

No, not House, Marcus Welby, MD, ER, Scrubs or the made-for-teevee doctor drama shows.

I’m talking about stuff like Dr. Oz on the Oprah Channel, and the seemingly endless variety of Dr. So-and-Sos on some of the Protestant religious networks like Trinity, CBN, The Church Channel, DayStar, The God Channel, Christian Television Network and others.

Perhaps more than anything, this is an issue of ethics. If someone has something to gain by purporting to “share information” with you, then WATCH OUT! The Latin phrase is “caveat emptor” – literally “Let the buyer beware.”